Egg prices are continuing to rise ahead of the holiday season, and it is expected to further burden consumers’ shopping baskets through the end of the year.
This week, the price of a crate of 20 eggs sold at Korean markets in Los Angeles ranged from $9.99 to $12.99. Compared to the $6.99 price of eggs in March according to the Korea Daily’s research, the price has jumped by as much as 86%. A dozen organic eggs also have soared to between $6.99 and $7.99.
“The price of eggs has been rising and falling, but it started to skyrocket a month ago when bird flu broke out again,” said an official at Hannam Chain LA. ”It’s an essential item for grocery shoppers, but the demand has decreased.”
Brent Nelson, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), also pointed out that “the price of eggs continues to rise due to repeated outbreaks of bird flu” and “this is the biggest factor affecting the soaring price of eggs.”
The national average price of a dozen eggs is $3.37, up 30% from a year ago. In some areas, such as California, egg prices are rising faster than the national average.
According to the USDA, a dozen eggs sold for about $5.26 in California last week. The price jumped almost 90% from last year’s $2.81. This is due to the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in California’s required cage-free breeding chicken farms.
The American Egg Board said that about 60% of the recently discovered cases of HPAI are related to free-range farms. More than 40% of the nation’s 300 million chickens are raised in free-range conditions. Emily Metz, President of the American Egg Board, analyzed that “the recent outbreaks began in California, Utah, Oregon, and Washington, and three of those states are cage-free farms.”
The outbreak of HPAI has been a headache for farmers and consumers for nearly three years, with outbreaks beginning to spread aggressively across the country since February 2022.
To date, 107.8 million birds have been affected in 48 states. In January 2023, egg prices soared to a record high of $4.82 per dozen after HPAI was detected.
More than 1 million chickens were recently slaughtered in Kern County, California, and HPAI was confirmed in 2.2 million chickens just last week. Since mid-October, 2.8 million chickens died from HPAI.
The USDA has predicted that the spread of HPAI caused national egg production to fall 2.6% year-on-year last month and that total egg production this year will fall 1% year-on-year.
As the egg supply in California has become scarce, eggs have been temporarily out of stock at some stores including Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Experts predict that egg prices will remain high for the rest of this year and until early next year.
BY EUNYOUNG LEE, HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
